Earlier this year, Amazon decided to expand their electronic book offering beyond their Kindle electronic reader with the introduction of Kindle for iPhone. Amazon has decided to now expand even beyond the iPhone to offer Kindle for PC. Kindle for PC will offer the same Whispersync technology included in the Kindle appliance and the Kindle for iPhone which automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks and last page read across devices.

Kindle for PC was demonstrated on Thursday at the Windows 7 launch event in New York City. The application is being marketed as a great companion application to the Kindle or as stand-alone application to access the electronic books available through the Kindle Store. Kindle for PC will utilize the new Windows Touch technology available on Windows 7. Windows 7 readers will be able to zoom in and out of touch with a pinch of the fingers. A future release of Kindle for PC will even support the ability to turn pages with a finger swipe. Kindle for PC is expected to be available as a free download next month.

I think Amazon was brilliant to expand the books offered through their Kindle Store to other devices such as the iPhone and the PC. I must admit, if you don’t have a Kindle the iPhone is the way to go, but those who have a Kindle love them and if you’ve ever seen one I think you would understand why. The Kindle screen has the look of paper, but the convenience of a computer which can hold hundreds of books.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon gained a lot of new Kindle owners through customers who experienced some of the same great features of the Kindle through the Kindle for iPhone and Kindle for PC. Personally, I’m hoping to put the Kindle on my Holiday Wish List. I’d probably end up reading a lot more than I do now.

I must admit, it’s kind of funny to see Microsoft touting Kindle for the PC as part of the Windows 7 launch event. I remember when Microsoft tried to push their own e-reader for the PC called Microsoft Reader. When it came out I thought it was a fantastic idea. I guess Microsoft was just a little too early with the notion of reading books on a computer.